The Richmond Heights girls basketball team defeated Wickliffe, 59-39, on Saturday at Richmond Heights High School for the Spartans’ second straight victory.

Coach William Cloud has the Spartans at 6-10 and 2-7 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Metro Division. The Blue Devils are 3-15, 1-7.

Cloud said the Spartans lost to the Blue Devils by just one point earlier in the season, but nearly rallied to win after trailing by 17 points. The reason for the comeback was a full-court press. This time around, Cloud had the Spartans pressing from the start and it paid off.

Richmond Heights won the first quarter, 18-6. Wickliffe cut the lead down to 29-21 by halftime, but the Spartans put the game away in the third quarter by outscoring the Blue Devils, 20-10, for a 49-31 advantage.

“We wanted to speed up the game and we got some early turnovers,” Cloud said. “We came out in the third quarter with the same intensity that we had at the start of the game and put the game away.”

Kirstyn Baker, the Spartans only senior, had a huge game for Richmond Heights with 20 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

“We ask a lot of her,” Cloud said. “We tell her to keep at it and be very aggressive. She’s done that and then some.

“She had a great game. We rely on her a lot and she’s lived up to the expectations.”

The Spartans are now 3-3 over their last six games. Part of the reason for that is getting healthy. Andrielle Hogan returned to the lineup after suffering a concussion and scored 13 points. Kyleth Spencer added 12 points.

“We’ve been playing well,” Cloud said. “We added two girls to the team so now we have 10.”

At one time, Richmond Heights was down to six girls. The new depth is nice as Baker sat out 3 minutes in the Wickliffe game. That may not sound like much, but it is when a player is accustomed to never leaving the floor.

“I really appreciate the six core ladies,” Cloud said. “They’ve worked tremendously hard. I’m demanding and they continue to do what I ask them to do.”

Cloud also has added a new wrinkle to the Spartans’ practices as his two sons join in for scrimmages. William Cloud Jr. is a 6-foot-3, 265-pound offensive lineman at Benedictine and London Cloud is a 6-1, 190-pound wide receiver at Bedford.

“It’s really paid off,” Cloud said.

The Spartans hit the practice floor and see much bigger bodies then they see during games.

So Richmond Heights seems to be getting a second wind after suffering a lull in the middle of the season.

“That’ exactly the way it went,” Cloud said. “We started out pretty good then we went through a stretch. The young ladies got tired. Now we’re in better shape. We’re not getting out worked.”

Richmond Heights will play Ashtabula Edgewood at 6 p.m. tonight at home. It’s the Spartans’ last home game as they will finish the regular season on Saturday at Independence and then play Newbury on Feb. 15 also on the road.

“We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing the past couple of weeks,” Cloud said. “We have to play good defense, limit our turnovers and make our easy shots and layups.”

Richmond Heights will face Kirtland in a Division III sectional semifinal on Feb. 18 at St. Joseph Academy in Cleveland. If the Spartans win, they’ll advance to play Laurel, the No. 3 seed, in a sectional final. The Gators earned a first-round bye.

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